Johnny O’Brien found MarQuan Brewster early and often as Fremd remained unbeaten after taking care of business with a 34-7 home victory over a pesky Evanston squad on Friday evening in Palatine.

Anytime the Vikings (3-0) needed to get the ball moving, Fremd coach Lou Sponsel leaned on his standout signal caller and veteran wide receiver to put the visiting Wildkits away.

“We’ve got one of the best quarterbacks around, so why not put the game in his hands as much as you can?” Sponsel said. “We’re going to be aggressive, we’re going to stay aggressive. That’s our philosophy. We’re going to take shots.”

O’Brien, a senior quarterback and Northwestern commit, finished the night 16 for 25 through the air with 278 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, as well as 35 yards and a score on the ground.

Brewster, a standout senior wide receiver, routinely found himself running in space, hauling in eight receptions for 153 yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s just a great football player and obviously, the physical attributes he has with the speed and the hands and the size,” said O’Brien about Brewster. “It’s so nice throwing to him every week and just knowing that what I’m seeing, he’s seeing. He’s going to be in the right spot, always.”

The scoreboard was convincing. However, it wasn’t as straightforward as the boxscore reads, as the Evanston defense put up a strong effort early on before the Vikings attack eventually set sail.

Fremd got the scoring started with a 36-yard Sheamus Sloan field goal for a 3-0 lead following an opening drive that spanned half of the first quarter before stalling out just inside the red zone.

After a holding flag halted an Evanston (1-2) drive, Fremd took advantage of another field goal to make its lead 6-0 with 3:32 to play in the first.

The Wildkits briefly threatened to take the lead as they drove deep into Viking territory to begin the second quarter. However, the Fremd defense stood tough, bringing down Evanston quarterback Amare Jones behind the line of scrimmage to end the scare.

“I love my defense and getting that stop was huge,” O’Brien said. “If they score, we’re down one trying to make a drive before half … it definitely sparked our team.”

With the defense standing tall, the Viking offense took the cue and immediately sprung into action.

O’Brien raised his left arm and uncorked a missile deep down the Vikings sideline, finding Brewster streaking open across midfield.

A few plays later, O’Brien took matters into his own hands when Evanston’s man coverage left the middle of the field open and the Fremd signal caller took off to score a 24-yard touchdown to give the Vikings a 13-0 lead.

“I saw it was man to man,” O’Brien said. “The corner was running with his back turned. I just had to beat the outside linebacker and I beat him.”

After an Evanston touchdown, Fremd took full control. O’Brien found Brewster a few times before the dynamic Viking wide out took a post pattern to the end zone from 30 yards away to make it 20-7 Vikings before the half.

“It was important to come out here and keep the hot start, especially at home against a tough Evanston team,” Brewster said. “Me and Johnny? We’re on a good page right now.”

O’Brien threw the Vikings down the field once again to open the second half before senior running back Jason Hardy punched in a 3-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter to make it 27-7.

The Vikings starters came out of the game shortly after O’Brien found Brewster in the end zone once again to make it 34-7.

The Vikings head to New Trier to face the Trevians in Week 4.

“We haven’t seen them in three years,” Sponsel said about New Trier. “We’ll enjoy this one tonight, and then get to work tomorrow and get ready to go on the road four weeks in a row. So it’s going to be a tough test.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250912/prep-football/fremd-pulls-away-from-evanston/